The History of the Siege of Lisbon

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Summary: But can a book transforms one's life?
Review: A book within a book. A history inside a history. Paradoxes that defy the intelligence of macho readers (Cortazar dixit) and that shows that the power of literature lies on the reader, and the way that, each time a new pairs of eyes sets upon a it, the book changes, has new answers, different perspectives, and illuminates everything and everyone that touches it. So, just one word can change the course of history? Yes, when its mere purpose is to change the way you view at things. An incredible tour de force, that travels through your mind swiftly, kindly, like a warm summer day, and that will give you a new perspective on rythm in literature. Do yourself a favour: Get lost in Lisbon and with Maria Sara, and then decide with whom you will fall in love

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Summary: Prose of a lover; not an academic
Review: A man no longer needs a woman. He has his work. And he has the prostitutes downtown. He is too old. He is too conservative. He is content to live his life through the books he proofreads.

In a process of professional malpractice he alters history and encounters a love he never expected.

In 'The History of the Seige of Lisbon,' Saramago has created an epic love story. Where many love stories stumble over cliches of plot and word, 'The History' is about the emotions, confusions, and distractions of new love: the angst of imagining our objet with another, the pain of waiting for the phone to ring, and the primal need to distract ourselves from obsessing on our own vices and virtues.

Conventional prose fails to capture these emotions. Saramago give us something else.

Saramago reveals the intimacy of all our relationships --with others, with places, and with history. His description of Lisbon isn't that of a travel guide but of an intimate. His retelling of the crusader's seige of Lisbon shows the patience and care of a father rather than the reserved impartiality of an academic.

Not since Mordecai Richler's 'Barney's Version' have I read such a brilliant story that reveals a love for person, place, and time.

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Summary: TO CHANGE ONE WORD
Review: I read this book, hoping for something eye opening and startlingly and amazingly overwhelming like The Stone Raft, but this book did not have that same ability to captivate. I cannot deny that The History of... is a well-crafted and, well, for lack of better diction, interesting book. It is. I read it with interest and sometimes amusement. The main character is charming, and you learn that his career as an editor has been long, distinguished and honorable (if indeed an editor can be called "honorable"). In his entire career he has never abused his position, but one day, as you will read, he does... and his liberty changes everything. Indeed Saramago raises interesting questions with this concept... when you change one single word, even the smallest of words, the entire meaning of everything can be changed. Saramago, naturally, delves more deeply into this subject in the book than I will here, but I think the book is worth reading simply for the merits of Saramago's verbal and philosophical meanderings.

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Summary: One Word Can Make All the Difference
Review: I've read everything Jose Saramago has published and, although BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA remains my all time favorite, I simply couldn't choose a second favorite from among Saramago's books; I love them all.

THE HISTORY OF THE SIEGE OF LISBON is another masterpiece from Saramago. It centers around a shy, mild mannered proofreader, Raimundo Silva, who, one day, does something quite out of character for a very shy, mild mannered man. Assigned to correct proofs of a history of Portugal, Silva decides to change Portugal's history with one word and one stroke of his proofreader's pen, simply by inserting the word "not" into the text.

His superiors do find his act of folly, but the ramification aren't as severe as one might expect and Silva is given another chance, and, more importantly, another boss. His new boss, Maria Sara, is fascinated by Silva's creativity and, surprisingly, she encourages rather than discourages, it.

I think it would be unfair to tell you whether Silva continues to "alter" the history of the siege of Lisbon, but he is fascinated with Maria Sara's suggestion and with Maria Sara, herself.

At this point in the book, the narrative expands to encompass, not only the modern day, but the twelfth century, Silva's obsession with Maria Sara and a pair of twelfth century lovers, Mogueime and Ouroana. Saramago's transitions are, of course, beautifully and seamlessly written.

I know many people who believe Saramago's writing is difficult to read and demands much from the reader. I'm just the opposite. Saramago is such a great writer and his prose is so fluid, that it simply pulls the reader into the narrative and reading a book by Saramago is effortless rather than difficult, the hallmark of truly superior writing.

I think THE HISTORY OF THE SIEGE OF LISBON is a "lighter," more playful book than some of Saramago's others, especially when he is writing about the budding romance between Raimundo Silva and Maria Sara. Saramago also takes the opportunity to poke a little fun at himself, something I really enjoyed.

THE HISTORY OF THE SIEGE OF LISBON should be a better known and more widely read book, as it is definitely a masterpiece. It is, sadly, greatly overshadowed by BLINDNESS, which of course is also a masterpiece, simply because BLINDNESS is more universal in theme than is THE HISTORY OF THE SIEGE OF LISBON. Still, if you like Saramago, give this book a try. I don't see any way you can go wrong.

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Summary: telling stories to impress
Review: If you can handle a reworking of the concept of 'punctuation' as we know it, Saramago's History of the Siege of Lisbon is well worth reading. It's not easy, by any stretch of the imagination: dialogue becomes a single block of text, single paragraphs go on for pages with no breaks and often without a period, and the whole concept of 'run-on sentence' is mostly ignored.

But it adds an incredible flow to this book. Based on a fairly simple premise--adding a single word to a history to change the entire course of the story--the book rises above plot, due in large part to the aforementioned style. Once you get used to it, the dialogue feels completely natural, not forced at all, and the sub-story of love between the proofreader and his editor falls into place perfectly. The characters are well developed to a fault, and by the end of the novel, you feel like you know them on a personal basis.

And it's got a two-page discussion of the beauty of toast. How can you not be fascinated? ("...it is so perfect and crunchy golden brown that one thinks one could go without the butter entirely, but you'd be a fool, only a fool would forego the butter...")

Overall, it took me a solid two weeks to finish this book, but it was worth my time: I completely understand why Saramago won the Nobel Prize.

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Summary: Once you get past the style...
Review: If you can handle a reworking of the concept of 'punctuation' as we know it, Saramago's History of the Siege of Lisbon is well worth reading. It's not easy, by any stretch of the imagination: dialogue becomes a single block of text, single paragraphs go on for pages with no breaks and often without a period, and the whole concept of 'run-on sentence' is mostly ignored.

But it adds an incredible flow to this book. Based on a fairly simple premise--adding a single word to a history to change the entire course of the story--the book rises above plot, due in large part to the aforementioned style. Once you get used to it, the dialogue feels completely natural, not forced at all, and the sub-story of love between the proofreader and his editor falls into place perfectly. The characters are well developed to a fault, and by the end of the novel, you feel like you know them on a personal basis.

And it's got a two-page discussion of the beauty of toast. How can you not be fascinated? ("...it is so perfect and crunchy golden brown that one thinks one could go without the butter entirely, but you'd be a fool, only a fool would forego the butter...")

Overall, it took me a solid two weeks to finish this book, but it was worth my time: I completely understand why Saramago won the Nobel Prize.

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Summary: Playing with words
Review: never thought I will be drowned into a book describing professional relationships between 2 men. nevertheless, the history of the siege of lisebon has done it to me. the way saramgo is painting every detail, his amazingly assotiative writing gets to higher peaks in this book. a must to saramago fans, or as a starting point in geting addicted to his books.

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Summary: Mature story of love
Review: Raimundo Silva, 50+,is a proofreader living alone in the oldest part of Lisbon. The publishing house he works for has trusted his corrections to many of their texts for years, yet one day on impulse he decides to alter a book, "The History of the Siege of Lisbon", by inserting a word of his own. Where the author writes that the crusaders on their way to the Holy Land stayed to help the Portugese conquer the city of Lisbon and drive out the Muslims, Raimundo inserts the word "not" saying the crusaders did not help the Portugese changing the whole meaning of what the author had written. His employers are embarrassed when the book makes it to publication and Raimundo is reprimanded, made to write a letter of apology and told he'll be reporting to a new boss, a woman, responsible for checking all his corrections.

His new boss and lover to be, Maria Sara convinces him to re-write the history of Lisbon with the word "not", and as he reimagines the siege of Lisbon, he reimagines his own life and falls in love for the first time. Slow moving, philosophical, this is a romantic & sensual love story, especially for mature readers as well as being great historical fiction. This book was my introduction to Portugese history some years ago.

Saramago's style is challenging as usual, single paragraphs that go on for 2 pages, sentences that meander for half a page, whole conversations in a single sentence. Personally I find his way of writing fluid and beautiful, like being right inside the character's head flowing along with his thoughts. He certainly deserved to win the Nobel Prize for literature.

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Summary: effort rewarded
Review: The book is riveting, I really can't say more than that. Like alot of his characters and plots in his other works, you are pulled in and stuck until you realize you need to get up for work in two hours.

You need to be familiar with portuguese history and culture to get a lot of his humor, but even if you arent his overall jabs on human nature make the book still soooo worth it. He has the ability to mock and yet show humanity in its best light. He, again teaches you how to laugh at yourself and our situation without losing respect for it.

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Summary: A Novel About the Writing of History
Review: When I started reading this book, all I knew about Saramago was that he had won the Nobel Prize for Literature; so I did not know what to expect. Although the publisher compares him to Borges, Rushdie, and Garcia Marquez, what we have in the man from Portugal is a true native original.

We are introduced to the dusty world of a professional proofreader -- a fussy type who regrets having two gerunds in his name. I felt as if I were propelled into MOLLOY or some other of Beckett's novels as the beginning spiralled around this seemingly unlikely character.

Suddenly, everything changes. At a critical juncture in a history of the siege of Lisbon he is proofreading, Silva suddenly introduces a caret and adds the word "not" -- thus completely changing the history.

His new boss, a Dr Maria Sara is enchanted by this Bartleby-like act of negation. She challenges Silva to write a "what if" novel on the supposition that the history occurred as modified by the "not": that the Crusaders, instead of helping the King of Portugal defeat the Moors, actually sailed on to the Holy Land directly.

Meanwhile, Silva is clearly becoming enchanted with Maria Sara. What ensues is both the strangest and most convincing of love stories. Silva writes his book, brings us into the thick of the history as he imagines the various characters from the blind muezzin to the German knight to the king himself. All along, he and Maria are romancing each other through the events of the siege.

What an incredible ride! Saramago is a master at easing from one world into another and taking us with him. He is both a master story-teller and an authentic modern in his handling of a character's state of mind -- a writer who easily could hold his own in the company of the great writers of our time.